Let’s take a closer look at how Taurean Prince has gotten out of his early-season shooting slump for the Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers signed former Minnesota Timberwolves wing Taurean Prince in the off-season with designs on him being a key spacer for the team given that he was shooting over 37% for his career from the 3-point line.
With the amount of attention that superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis draw from opposing defenses, the hope was that Prince would get more space to shoot than he’s had in his career and surpass his career average. Those dreams turned into nightmares early in the season, with many proclaiming Taurean as yet another victim of the “Lakers tax” where good shooters suddenly become mediocre or poor after playing under the bright lights and microscope of being a Laker.
However, very much to Prince’s credit, he’s turned around those early shooting woes and has been on an absolute tear over the last few weeks, hitting a clip of under 60% (!) from the 3-point line and bringing his average above his career norm.
I broke down the film on what triggered that change and found four key items:
Of course, it’s no guarantee that Prince will continue to shoot at this rate — he certainly won’t be anywhere close to 60% long-term — but the fact that he was able to get out of his early-season slump and get back to his shooting fundamentals are excellent signs. Not only is he a high-level shooter who understands how to self-correct — very likely along with some help from the coaching staff — but also that he’s potentially able to withstand the pressure of playing for the Lakers as many have been unable to come out of those slumps.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, is a youth basketball coach at the U12 level and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training.
Combining his background in biomechanics, movement science, and learning science - he consults in a variety of sports including basketball on movement mechanics and skill acquisition. Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC and analyzes the Lakers from a skills & medical perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.
